This weekend, a screening of the film “Spotlight” hosted by the new North Carolina Newsroom Cooperative emphasized the importance of an independent press in our society. The movie told the story of how the Boston Globe exposed the systematic cover-up of child sexual abuse by the Catholic Church. The existence of the Cooperative reminds us that the press, as we’ve known it, is struggling to survive.
In “Spotlight,” a group of investigative journalists took on one of the most powerful institutions in Boston, the Catholic Church, and shed light on practices that have had international repercussions. Without the financial support of an organization as large as the Globe and its parent company, the New York Times, the story might never have been told. Without independence from the political and social establishment, the abuse and its coverup would almost certainly have continued.
In North Carolina, we’ve seen similar, if more regional, stories without the global implications. The News & Observer uncovered the athletic and academic scandal at UNC despite the opposition of alumni, some of whom are among the most powerful people in the state. The media found waste at the North Carolina Rural Center that led to a major restructuring. They exposed corruption in the office of former House Speaker Jim Black and sent him to prison. They found petty abuse in the administrations of Governors Bev Perdue and Mike Easley that led to Easley surrendering his law license. And the list goes on.
Clearly, an independent press is crucial to keeping corruption in check and combatting abuse of power. The demise of newspapers and the loss of well-funded investigative journalists threatens the chief deterrent to pay-for-play politics and the accumulation of power and influence by power brokers of all stripes. The Newsroom Cooperative is trying to stop the bleeding and find a new formula for making journalism both profitable and independent. Everyone should be cheering for their success.
In this environment, Pat McCrory’s campaign has launched an attack on the credibility of News & Observer. It’s one thing to take on the editorial board, which writes opinions, and another to say the journalists are lying and biased. McCrory is trying to obscure an emerging scandal over pay-to-play politics by claiming that the same journalists who exposed the so-called culture of corruption that he ran against are now partisan hacks. They’re betting they can piggy-back on the partisan disdain, from both the left and right, with the so-called mainstream media.
If McCrory is successful in convincing the public that the investigations are politically motivated, then we’re losing the ability to hold our public officials accountable. I think, though, he’s picked a fight that he will lose. To paraphrase Shakespeare, me thinks thou dost protest too much. I still believe that mainstream Americans will believe the mainstream media instead of siding with partisan apologists that pass themselves off as journalists. McCrory will eventually have to deal with the facts instead of the spin.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
Spotlight is one of the best movies I have ever seen. I highly recommend it.
Norma: Do not despair, remain optimistic and for two reasons. First, I have been polling and consulting for over 50 years and what I have learned is that most voters may seem slow to catch on at first, but eventually they do the right thing. This is especially true of Unaffiliated (i.e. Independents, Ticket-splitters) voters. Governor McCrory has a 3-year record that is, or will become, well known. Never underestimate the intelligence of the voters as more and more of them reject the two political parties and become Unaffiliated. That is an action which requires some thought and action, and these voters now decide North Carolina elections.
Secondly, never underestimate the power of the press (particularly print and TV). I was Governor George Romney’s Executive Assistant in 1967 when he make his “brainwashing” comment. His presidential campaign (in which he was leading President Johnson) was wiped out within three weeks. I know all about what can happen when you take on the news media and they fight back. Be of good cheer, and believe (what McCrory’s advisors don’t) that North Carolina voters will make the right decision when they know the facts. Peace.
You are right. Governor McCrory will lose this fight. It is one thing to use the “hate news media” approach for his Republican base, but it is, indeed, another to convince Independents (i.e., ticket-splitters) and Democrats that the newspapers they read, the TV news programs they watch and the radio stations they listen to are all biased against Governor McCrory. That is not a workable campaign strategy but a slogan. And, of course, it is an irresponsible attack on a key part of our democratic system of government. That’s why it will not work because North Carolina voters are not stupid; they will know a scam when they see it.
Really? Elections don’t require real majorities, but rather a majority of those who bother to vote, which is increasingly fewer and fewer. I’m not sure about the intelligence of many voters these days having seen what The Donald has done. His lies are legion and his outlandish, half baked ideas, are frightening AND not worthy of this country, yet 25-35% of the possible Republican voters, and a healthy dollop of Independents according to a recent poll would vote for him against Hillary Clinton. One can dislike Hillary, but few would say she is crazy or stupid, and both apply to Trump. Leaves me seriously wondering if the McCrory approach might work. I would very much like to be wrong!
The US. media is corporately owned and very tightly controlled, and as such it is not a viably objective source for information – particularly where popularity ‘polls’ are concerned; they actually make these polls up to sway public opinion on an ‘as needed’ basis. Secondly, you are correct, Hillary is not stupid but she is crazy and she is a staunch establishment insider who is inherently evil by her political associations. There is little difference between a vote cast for Trump or a vote cast for a prepackaged candidate like Hillary – the establishment (or ‘deep state as it is called) controls the executive branch of government ‘lock, stock and barrel’ – actually, all three branches of our government, and they made that exceedingly clear with their assassination of JFK by the CIA. The republican neo-con faction is the ‘establishment’ and this explains why Obama chose to leave in place every neo-con department head from the Cheney administration – for Obama is also an establishment insider, that is why we have gotten nothing but more war from our Nobel Peace Laureate.
Finding the right words to tell the story, the truth, is harder than it looks. Takes some of the skills of a poet to create the frame. Writers are working class. Corporate support was there long as the ads sold. Turns to a subscription model, and a donation model are hard to make work. The paperboy’s 50 cents was collected for them and easily written off by the circulation departments. Subscribers paid for the paper to show they cared really. Few really value free presents.